Eragon traveled Middle-Earth?
by Mew-the-Dark-Matter-buster1
Summary: A Story of what might have happened to Eragon Kingslayer after he left Alagaesia, and a encounter with a Hobbit. He also learns the origins of the dragons. On hiatus
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters that are in this story, they belong to Christopher Paolini and J.R.R Tolkien. I now know from his website that Christopher Paolini has already planned out his 5th book, but this is just my attempt to write my own version of the events that happened after Eragon Kingslayer (I prefer Shadeslayer) left Alagaёsia.

* * *

Authors note: When we last saw Eragon, he was traveling down the Jiet River out into the wild unknown of the world beyond Alagaёsia. Eragon, Saphira, and Glaedr had already discovered that the world was round, and that Alagaёsia was only a small part of the world. This tale happens in a land far away, In a world both familiar and foreign to the reader. This story will start before Eragon arrives, but he will make an appearance.

Remember how the elves and the Urgals mentioned that they came to Alageasia from across the sea in the west? The claim to know the land they came from is called Alalёa, but where is that you may wonder. This story will attempt to answer that question.

In _The Silmarilian_ , the history of Aman (and the Ainur) were described in great detail, with a great amount of characters and places. The tale that will be described takes place during the Later Days, specifically after the Last Ship sailed from Middle-Earth to Valinor. Those of you who have read _The Silmarilian_ will already have one cursory understanding of what happened before this tale occurred. For the purposes of this story, the history of Arda will be at least slightly different. Even though I like the role music has in Tolkien's book as the instrument that was used to create a vision of the world, music is not going to be used in the same way in this tale. Some of the characters who are in the original book will be left out to make the writing more streamlined. Some of the key events will still happen, but potentially with different conditions and triggers.

* * *

Far over the Encircling Mountains cold,

There is a fortress, black as night.

You must away, ere break of day,

To flee from your, beloved home.

The swords of orcs, come like a fork,

To stab and bite, and steal your life.

The dragons came, their breath aflame,

They tore up the stone, to broken bone.

The wolves by score, broke down the doors,

Their claws rent and tore, your losses soar.

The Balrogs came, with whips of flame,

After powerful strokes, you harness a yoke.

In chains your bound, and next your found,

Working in the mines of Morgoth himself.

Til until the day, the Powers make say,

And Morgoth is cast into the Void.

You will rejoice, and leap with joy,

You feel like a new girl or boy.

For this truth is true indeed:

Morgoth will pay for his deeds, even an eternity. (my own ballad, inspired by the fall of Gondorlin, and The Misty Mountains Cold)

* * *

It was a bright, sunny day in the Shire. It was a time of peace and prosperity. Samwise Gamgee and his wife Rose Cotton, now Mrs. Gamgee, were out in the garden with their children. It was the 45th year of the Fourth Age of the Sun. (see _The Complete Guide to Middle-Earth_ ) It was the 6th day of the Hobbit month of _Afterlithe, (_ 24 June to 23 July, according to both Wikipedia and _The Complete Guide to Middle-Earth_ ). It was on this fine, sunny day that a surprise came to the house of Gamgee. It was just about teatime when Sam felt and heard something that the entire Shire had never felt before: a earth-tremor.

It started off as a small sound that could have passed as the sound of a young Hobbit jumping up and down on the ground. The volume of the sound, and the intensity of the vibrations in the floor grew quickly into an earth-rending force. The glass widows shattered, the floor split, and the mantle-piece broke off and fell into a newly made sinkhole, as the dirt around Bag End heaved, coiled, and buckled.

The fire in the hearth blazed up and changed into the shape of a strange language. The runes were visible only for a second, but Sam, who had gone inside, noticed them. The writing that Sam saw was not of the known Sindarin Elvish tongue, but it was closely tied to the elves. The translation of the text was both a warning, and a welcome. It was tied with the Enemy who came into the World during a time long ago, in a part of time forgotten by most. The Book of Westmarch, which Frodo had left behind for Sam to finish, contained a lot of information of what had happened during the time the Enemy was in the height of his power. You might be wondering: "Who is this Enemy?" That will be told in due time.

After the fiery script disappeared, the earth-tremor stopped. All was quiet, very quiet. Sam and his wife Rose looked at each other with wide eyes, not fully understanding what had just happened. Sam was the first to speak up.

"Well, I have seen quite a few things during my travels with Mr. Frodo, and I went through a lot of trouble during that journey, and that trouble was sort of expected. But when the trouble appears at home, well, like it did when we returned from our journey, it really came unexpectedly. The benefit last time was that I got to see a part of it before it happened in Galadriel's mirror, but this time, it really came out of the blue as my Gaffer would say. "

Rose paused before she spoke to him. She encouraged and comforted him, and they eventually got the Hobbit children calmed down and preoccupied with their garden work, which had been disturbed by the earthquake.

* * *

It was now the 3rd day of _Afteryule,_ (between 23 December to 21 January) the 1st month of the Hobbit calendar, nearly 6 months after the "Gamgee Shake" occurred at Bag End. The respectable name of Gamgee had started to get the same treatment as the name of "Baggins" had before it. Certain Hobbits who were descended from the Sackville Baggins were starting to repeat the behavior of their ancestors. They treated Sam and his wife Rose coldly, and scornfully. They started to tell rumors that Bilbo Baggins had never actually left the Shire. When they had tried to do this publicly, they were renounced as liars, and discredited by the majority of the Hobbit-folk. In secret, however, they conspired with one another, and quietly started to privately sway individual hobbits who had not heard the tale of The Lord of The Rings, which was a large section of the Book of Westmarch. Slowly, but surely, their numbers were growing.

It was on this day when Ruby Gamgee, the 11th child of Sam Gamgee, went into the cellar by herself. She had been sent to go fetch some cheese and some eggs that Sam had stored there yesterday. He, unfortunately, was out of sorts today. His sorrow from missing Master Frodo had made him feel lethargic. When she went into the cellar, which she had not been in before, she noticed that something was not right. In the middle of the floor, sat an object that she had never seen before: a red polished stone. Ruby looked around, and saw the devastation of the pantry.

There were some unbroken eggs in the cellar but there was not very much clean cheese. There was a little crater surrounding the aforementioned stone, and the counter that had held most of the supply of cheese had been charred and burnt away. The cheese, miraculously, had survived, but it had fallen in a pile onto the dirt floor. The replacing of the chicken eggs that had been broken would be easy to replace, but the cheeses, oh, the succulent, delicious, mouth-watering cheeses, they could not be so easily replaced. It would take all the cows in the Shire 3 years to replace the cheese that had fallen onto the floor!

Despite the obvious losses that were around this strange new stone, the red stone itself was something new. Ruby thought that maybe it was something that had a great value. If it did, then maybe it could be sold for the price it would take to buy at least a couple months worth of cheese. Maybe this object was something that Sam saved up from an adventure for a "rainy day." She looked outside and saw that it was actually snowing today. Besides, this object was so extraordinary that she felt she had to touch it to see how it felt. Curiously, and tentatively, Ruby walked over and picked up the stone.

Nothing in Middle Earth had ever polished a stone as smooth as this one. Its flawless surface was a dark red, except for thin lines of yellow that spider-webbed across it. The stone was cool and friction-less under her fingers, like hardened silk. Oval and about 6 inches long, it weighed a pound or two, though it felt lighter than it should have been.

Ruby found the stone both beautiful and mysterious. As she held it, she thought up some questions: _Where did it come from? Why is it here? Is it here by accident or am I supposed to have it?_ If she had learned anything from the old stories Sam had read to her, it was to treat strange or foreign things with great caution. A flicker of indecision ran through her, and she almost put it down, but something stopped her. She decided that at the least that it was something that might be sold for something to eat.

Ruby carried the stone with her to the kitchen, and placed it on the kitchen table. After that, she ran to her father and said that she had found something she had never seen before in the cellar. Sam, who was starting to recover from his feelings of lethargy, followed her into the kitchen. While they had bean out of the kitchen, a small 'chirp' had come from the stone. When Sam saw the strange stone, a strange sense of uneasiness fell over him. He then told Ruby to wait while he thought.

His reasoning was this: if that stone had been in the cellar, and he had not noticed it before, then it must have either have been there the previous time he visited the cellar, or it had bean put there between yesterday and now. He thought back to yesterday and tried to remember what he had seen when he had gone to the cellar, but he couldn't remember very much. He remembered that he had tripped over something hard when he had entered the cellar, but he had never bothered to look down to see what it was. One of his other Hobbit children had a tendency to occasionally drop a spare millstone onto the floor whenever he entered or left the cellar. Because of this, the Gamgees would occasionally stub their toes on the stone when they entered the cellar. When Sam had tripped on the hard object, he had assumed that he had tripped on this millstone when he entered the cellar. As Sam thought, he began to suspect that he had tripped on the strange stone when he had walked into the cellar. If he had unknowingly tripped on the stone yesterday, then it was placed there before he came into the pantry yesterday.

He walked over to the stone and felt its polished surface with his right hand. He, like Ruby, marveled at its smoothness. He set it down on the table, and scrutinized it. This stone was the biggest curiosity he had ever seen before. He had heard of Pippin's narrative of what had happened when he had touched the Palantir of Isengard, which was also called **Angrenost**. Whatever this stone was, it did not look or feel ordinary to Sam. This might be one of those palantiri that had been lost. Sam cautiously went over, and touched the stone with his left hand.

Instead of nothing, something happened when Sam touched the strange stone. A bright flash of white filled his vision, and all the sights and sounds of his comfy Hobbit hole faded away, replaced by new sights and sounds. He felt sweltering heat all around him, scorching, hot, almost unbearable heat. Almost instantly, a flashback of the time of the Fellowship, when Sam had gone into the heart of Mount Doom, flashed before his eyes, and threatened to distract him from his current surroundings. Sam was at first distracted by the flashback, but he pushed that memory out of the front of his mind, and he focused on looking about him at his surroundings. I need not describe the scenery to you, all I need to say for the readers was this: he was at The Burning Plains. (see Paolini's Eldest for descriptions of the place) Sam, however, did not notice much of the terrain, because there were other sights in front of him.

Sam had seen a lot of orc bodies when he had climbed through Minas Morgol, but he had never seen an actual battle before. The first encounter he had with orcs, he had been in the Mines of Moria, which was considered as a skirmish, and not an actual battle. In his 2nd important fight, he had had to fight against Shelob all by himself, with The Lady's star-glass, and Sting. The carnage he saw now from the battle that he was seeing made his blood run cold. Thousands of human bodies lay on the ground, spread out in every direction, as far as he could see. The stench of their blood was so powerful, Sam was almost overwhelmed, and nearly fainted. He recovered himself, and tried to reach for his nose with his left hand, but found that it was frozen in place. He managed to reach up with his right hand and covered his nose. Now, the stench was not as potent as before, allowing Sam to be able to endure it while he looked up and around himself. The clamorous sounds of battle and death he heard around him were deafening, and might have driven him mad.

The regular cacophony of sounds were interrupted when Sam heard 2 sounds he never heard before. A large, rumbling roar, and a mighty gust of wind fell upon him together, and almost toppled him to the ground. He stumbled, but stayed upright as he regained his balance. He looked up and saw two large, ferocious looking creatures flying in the sky, one of them was red, the other one was blue. In all of his days, Sam had never seen, and perhaps would never see again, anything like these creatures. The Oliphaunt was before this the best creature Sam had ever seen in all of his travels. The sight of the sun glinting through a gap in the clouds and onto the creatures' scales was a beautiful sight indeed, especially when it glanced off the blue creature. (I currently lack the proper words to describe it, but that may change later on.) It was the red creature who had roared. The blue creature roared back at the challenging red one, before they both collided into each other.

As they continued to fight each other, Sam thought to himself that these creatures looked somewhat familiar. When he searched through his memory of Bilbo's stories about his adventure to the Lonely Mountain, and of the shape of a certain firework that he had seen many years ago, at Bilbo's 111th birthday party, he came to only one logical conclusion about what those creatures were. That conclusion was confirmed when the creatures blew out fire from their nostrils and mouths. Dragons! But what were 2 dragons doing here on a battlefield fighting each other? Were they fighting over a treasure hoard or were they just fighting just for fighting's sake?

Even though Sam was wondering all these things, he never got the chance to ask them to anyone there, for just as soon as he thought up these questions, his vision turned to white, then to black, as the sweltering heat fell away, and was replaced with coolness. He felt dizzy all of a sudden, as the sights, sounds, and smells of the battle faded away. His vision cleared, and new, but comfortable sights, sounds, and smells came to his attention: the sight, sounds, and smells of his home in Bag End, in Hobbiton, in the Shire.

Sam felt something on his arm, and looked about for what was touching him there. He was so engrossed in the memory of what he just saw in that vision that he was surprised when he saw that the person who was holding onto his arm was his daughter Ruby. The look she was giving him was a mixture of shock and worry. She asked him tentatively: "What happened to you dad? " Sam did not know how to respond at first because the vision he had seen had been horrific and glamorous at different times. He looked at the strange stone, and wondered if it had given him the vision, or if he had just had a daydream. Either way, he did not think that he should tell Ruby everything that he had seen. He thought she did not need to know of all of those things related to death. He wanted to reassure her that he was fine, despite the terrible scene he saw. He felt that he should talk to his wife about it later when the other children were in bed.

"I am felling better now, my dear Ruby. I just remembered when I searched for Mr. Frodo while I was inside Mt. Doom. The red color of this stone acted as a reminder. to me. I was so caught up in the memory that I forgot I was here. " It was at least part of the truth, but it was not all of it. Little did Sam know that his Ruby would soon be experiencing something beyond his imagination.

Ruby stared at him with a little bit of worry apparent in her eyes. She then spoke: "I think you are not telling all that you saw and felt. I am 19 now, dad. I am about to enter my tweens, I think I can handle anything that you could throw at me. (Hobbits come of age at 33, after having gone through the irresponsible tweens (the twenties between childhood and 33) see The fellowship of the Ring, first chapter) I know that according to some of the Big Folk, I am already an adult. Please tell me what you saw, I need to know what is out there, and not live in ignorance." Sam sighed, she was too sharp, observant, and Tookish to be fooled. He might as well come clean. He described his vision/daydream to Ruby, who stood there patiently, not missing a word. When he was done explaining, he stood silently, waiting for her response. She stood still for a minute, not saying anything, till she sighed, before saying: "Even though I understand now why you would want to refrain from telling me what you saw, I still prefer that you would have told me up front what you saw. Now that I know what your vision was, I can now try and help you determine why you had it, or how it was triggered."

Sam was surprised that his daughter would actually react so calmly to such a vision. He had expected that she would have been overcome by the description of his vision. Why was that not happening? Was she keeping it all inside and not showing it?

Ruby put her hand on the stone and tapped it. A hollow sound came from the stone, surprising both Sam and Ruby. Stones are not usually hollow, so either this was a really rare stone, or it was something else. Ruby raised her eyebrow a little, then she went, and picked up a rock the size of a large watermelon, and smashed it on the strange stone. Instead of the stone breaking, the rock broke into small pieces. Ruby looked at the place where she struck the strange stone with the rock, and there was not even a scratch on the strange stone. She looked up in surprise to Sam, who looked even more surprised than her. She walked around the curious stone, then she touched it. Nothing happened. She ran a hand through her hair, and then spoke: "Well, now we know at least that this object is hard to damage from the outside with physical force. The only explanation for why that is the case can be explained in only one way: a powerful magic."

* * *

It was a dark and stormy night in the Shire. A heavy rain had started to fall at Teatime, and by Dinner-time, The rain was coming down so hard that it was knocking of some of the leaves of trees. Sam, Rosie, and Ruby were the only Hobbits up this night. It was just about midnight, when something happened in the Shire, 46 years after Frodo left Bag End on his quest to take the One to Mt. Doom. A strange, shadowy figure approached the door of Bag End from the road, and opened the gate to the steps. It slowly and quietly went up the steps and up to the door. It waited there for a minute, drew out a walking staff from out of it's cloak, and rapped the door with the end of its stick.

Sam, who had bean eating his 4th piece of midnight toast, was so surprised by the knock that he dropped his piece of toast. It landed butter-side-down on the floor. Before Sam could get worried about the spilled butter, Ruby got out her handkerchief, and started to clean up the spilled butter and toast on the floor. She said: "Father, it would be rude to let our visitor stand in the rain. I can take care of this while you greet our guest." Sam let out a sigh of relief before he walked toward the front door. When he opened the door, he saw a sight that caught him by surprise.

Instead of seeing a Dwarve or Hobbit in the doorway, he saw two men. The one on the left had a plain walking stick that went up to his solders, but the man on the right leaned on an axe. Sam paused, and looked them up and down. Both of their faces wore a stern expression. The man on the left had a beard that went down to his knees, while the one on the right was clean-shaven. Both of them were the same height, which was about 6' 6". The man on the left was dressed in a plain, grey cloak that ended at the knees. The man on the right was dressed in a white robe that went down all the way to the top of the ankle. The man on the left was barefoot, but the one on the right wore white boots. As Sam looked at these characters, he noticed that their faces, besides the presence or lack of beards, were exactly the same. After that, the man on the left struck his staff on the ground and said in a smooth, baritone voice: "Is this Bag End, the residence of Sam Gamgee?"

Sam replied back: "This is Bag End, and I am Sam Gamgee. What are you doing here, and why did you show up to see me at about midnight?"

The man on the right answered: "We came here for several reasons, A light snack during night is one of them, since we have had to travel at night to avoid detection. The need for secrecy is important, since we wanted to avoid leaking the information we have to unwanted others. We will explain more later. For now, lets eat."

Sam, who was still mystified and clueless as to why these two strange men would want to stop by during the night and see him, let them inside and told them to take off their boots. The man with the white boots took them off, took off his stockings, and walked barefoot all the way to the kitchen. As the man in the white robe and the ax walked to the kitchen escorted by Sam, the other man, who had been barefoot already, sat down on the welcoming mat, and using some water from his canteen, washed his own feet of the dust, rocks, and soil that had collected on them. After he was finished, he walked into Bag End, and slowly, but quietly, closed the door. After he closed the door, he uttered a phrase in another language: "Atra du evarínya ono varda, atra esterní ono thelduin, Eragon. Sé onr sverdar sitja hvass, Shur'tugal." ( use a guide to the Ancient Language in Paolini's book Inheritance to get the translation.) He stopped for a second, then looked toward the kitchen. He could see the other man leaning the axe handle against the chair he was going to sit in. The axe man started looking around at the windows, rooms, and passageways, observing as much as he could the entrances and potential exits. He also looked at the furniture in the kitchen, judging the prospects of making a barricade. The man next to the door could tell what the man with the battle axe was thinking: that kitchen was not very defensible. Turning toward the door, the old-looking man pointed out his left hand and the staff in his right hand. In a low whisper, he said some strange words, and a faint white light crawled up his right hand and up to the tip of his staff. Another glow came from his left palm as he continued to whisper the words. It was not long before the man stopped saying the words, and the light that had been shining faded.

Sam, Ruby, and Rose, who were preoccupied with attending and feeding the other man, did not see what the man with the staff had done near the door. The large axe-man had asked for a pint of beer that had been aged for 15 years in White Oak barrels, and asked if they had any meat or cheese. Ruby gave a worried glance at her father, who gave an anguished glance back at her, before looking back at the axe-man. Sam cleared his throat before answering: "I beg your pardon sir, but we have not had any meat here for some time, We are going to not get any bacon, ham, beef, or chicken until next week, when the livestock are butchered. Unfortunately, there was an earthquake nearly a year ago, and because of it, all of our cheese at the time got soiled and had to be given to the swine. We are still waiting for our new cheese to age to at least 2 years. I am sorry that we are not able to provide those foods to you right now."

Sam, after he was done explaining, looked at the axe-man, and watched for the man's reaction. The man frowned, put his left elbow on the table vertically, rested his chin on his left hand, and closed his eyes. He did that for 15 seconds, then replied: "In the morning I will remedy that. Do you have any dry bread loaves?" Sam replied: "I do have 2 loaves of dry bread that I was going to use as bird feed. I don't understand why you would want to eat it, but I will get it anyway." After that, Sam rushed outside to get the loaves, and returned back with them. The axe-man examined one of the loaves, and broke it in half with his bare hands. The loud crunch of the bread snapping startled Rose and Ruby. When the axe man saw this, he chuckled, then said: "Sorry I startled you. I know it is not much of an excuse, but I have rarely been in houses, I have been primarily focused on keeping myself from being killed, and on making and eating my own food by myself. It is not easy to survive sometimes when you are traveling." It was at this time that the man with the beard came in and addressed Sam.

"Hello, and well met, Master Samwise. You will not know me, but I know you. I would really like to stay here and chat with you, smoke some long-bottom leaf, and have tea with you, but I, unfortunately, cannot stay as long as I would like. I came here to give you some information that will prepare you for something new that I think is about to happen. I also think I can also help your daughter to ask and answer her own questions, ones that have gone unanswered for a long time."

Before Sam could ask any questions from the bearded man, he held up his left hand and walked over to the table. After sitting in a chair, and grabbing the other loaf of dry bread, he bowed his head, and held the bread up with both his hands. He closed his eyes, and then spoke: "This represents Jesus Christ's body, which was broken for us all." After that, the old man broke the bread, and gave some to Sam, Rose, the axe-man, and Ruby. After he gave her a piece of the bread, he said: "Where I come from, it is a a custom, and a command, that we break bread often in remembrance of the man Jesus Christ who sacrificed his life so that some could live with God, the One, after the Ending of Days. Without his sacrifice, I would not be here today. We do this often to remind ourselves of what he did." After this, he ate the piece of bread. Rose, Ruby, Sam, and axe-man did the same. After they were done eating the broken bread, the old man spoke again: "We normally have proper ceremonies where we do it as a community, but I like using a different procedure when I am on my own or with others who know me well. Consider yourselves blessed that I have chosen to do this in front of all of you." After that, the old man took out a small bottle of red wine, and poured it into 5 small glasses. He passed everyone there a glass, giving the last one to Ruby. He turned his gaze at the red wine, sighed, and said: "This represents Jesus Christ's blood, which was shed for us all, as an atonement for everyone's sins." Then, he took a sip of his glass of red wine. The others followed suite.

After the red wine was consumed, silence pervaded the room for a while as Sam, Rose, and Ruby were thinking. Sam and Rose thought that the event revealed that there were other people and cultures in the world that they had just gotten a glimpse of. The very idea was both fascinating and alarming at the same time. If there were people who could revere one person to high regard, then there must be more diversity to the world than they had known before.

Ruby, however, was thinking of something else. While the painfully obvious fact was that she had just met some people who did not live in the Shire, there were other questions that were bothering her. Rose was pondering why Sam had seen a vision of a battle between 2 hosts of men, and why there had been 2 dragons that had been locked in combat against each other. The Book of Westmarch did have some accounts of dragons really being in battles, but they had always fought for an evil power that had ruled over a lot of Middle-Earth. That power had been swept away by the forces of good that came from the West, and with it, most of the dragons and fire drakes. After that, there was a long time of peace and prosperity in Middle-Earth, which was soiled by selfish pride of the Númenóreans. The most recently recorded encounter with a dragon had been slightly more than a hundred years ago, during the quest for the Lonely Mountain, which was called Erebor in the Sindarin Elvish tongue. What would provide the motivation for 2 dragons be fighting each other? Were they fighting for dominance, a mate, treasure, respect, prestige, or territory?

What was that strange stone, was it a Palantir, or some other magical object? The strange stone that she had found was hidden away in her room. 7 months after she had found the stone in the cellar, and Sam had been unable to find any Hobbits who would be willing to exchange it. There had been a dwarve, Gimli's son, who had an interest in it. He figured he could use the stone to sharpen tools. Sam almost gave it away, but then realized that the dwarve had not said what he would give Sam in return for the stone. When Sam had asked Gimli's son what he would pay, the dwarve said that he had no idea of how to price it. As far as he could tell, the item was priceless. He did not know if its price would be too high, or if it meant nothing. Because of the lack of buyers, Sam and his family had been forced to hold on to it. The strange stone was too odd an object to carelessly throw away. Ruby, Sam, and Rose did not mention the vision Sam had had when he had touched the strange stone to anyone.

Ruby's musings, and the silence were broken when the old man spoke again: "Now then, I say it is time for some explanations. You are probably wondering why 2 men would travel a long, stealthy way to come to Hobbiton. A short explanation is this: we came here to give you a warning, and to try to help you find some answers to any questions you might have."

Sam looked at Ruby, then at Rose, before he said: "I beg your pardon sirs, I will be interested to hear about that warning later. First I would like to know why you had to come here To Bag End, instead of to the king. The 2nd thing I would like to know is what is so important about your visit that makes it so important to be secretive about it. You could have come here in the day and not one of these Hobbits would have bothered you. We are a peace-loving folk and do not usually go on adventures."

The old man smiled mischievously, then chuckled. "Well, from what I know, Gandalf used to be infamous here as a 'disturber of the peace' just because he gave Bilbo and Frodo directions on how to leave the Shire and go out on an adventure." The old man turned serious: "To answer your 2nd question, I am not eager to follow his footsteps and disturb Hobbits who are not interested into having any adventures. I have overheard some of the suspicious Hobbits utter rumors and grumblings about you and your family, Sam. Some are even saying that you caused the earthquake that happened almost a year ago. There is already a group of Hobbits that meets secretly, plotting and telling lies to any that will listen. I have seen some of their members watching Bag End and your Hobbit-hole during the day. Because of this, we decided then that we should come see you one night when most of Hobbiton is sleeping, so that they would not notice our arrival at your door. If they noticed 2 strange man, one of which would look like the infamous Gandalf, they would be even more suspicious Hobbits. We have watched carefully to make sure there were no evil men in the area that could cause some trouble for you. We have had many encounters before we came to Middle-Earth with some obnoxious and violent people who have tried to rob or kill us. Now that the rightful king is on the throne in Gondor, travelers on the roads have become quite safe from robbers, and there are less vagabonds. Unfortunately, because of the sensitivity and importance of what I know is going to happen, and because of the value of the information we will tell you, it is essential that we tell only you three what we are going to tell you. Prying eyes and loose lips have sunk many ships. "(lose lips sink ships)

Sam, Ruby, and Rose glanced at each other with worried expressions. The revelation that there were Hobbits in the Shire that were suspicious of Sam, and the presence of slanderers had caught them off guard. Now they could more understand why these 2 men would want to stay hidden. The combination of suspicious neighbors and delicate information that must be kept from unfriendly ears and those Hobbits who had loose lips was enough to warrant as much secrecy as possible. Secrecy had been a necessary to get the Ruling Ring out of the Shire and away from the Black Riders on the way to Bree.

The old man continued: "We were going to come here at first because of something that has happened in a land far away from here. However, when the news reached us about the earthquake that the Shire experienced, our interest in coming here grew greater. Traveling stealthy and inconspicuously, we heard the rumors from some Hobbits about the strange stone that Sam had been trying to sell. There were various rumors, most of the contents were pure speculations, superstitions, or lies. Because of all these things involved your family, we decided that it would be best for us to investigate this place ourselves and get some evidence so that we could decide how much of what they are saying is true. Besides, we decided that all these 'bizarre' things might somehow be related with why we came here with our warning. "

Sam then said: "That is the 2nd time that you have told me about a warning. From the way you are talking it sounds mighty important for you to come all this way, to give it to me here in the kitchen in frond of Rose and Ruby. I am the father, and it is my duty to protect my wife and child, though she be in her tweens. If you have to talk to me about something that is going out in the world right now, you can talk to me privately. "

The axe man, who had finished eating his bread a while ago, picked up his axe, and examined its edge with his eyes. He then spoke like Yoda: "Hearing us also your daughter must. Independent thoughts she has already; hidden wisdom she may have. " Then he continued in his normal voice: " She could have a role to fill, though she may be a young lady that is slightly older than a child in your eyes. The race of men may not have the same expectations everywhere, but I have heard tales of a boy younger than your daughter who slew a giant when he was about 15, just by using a sling. Hobbits on average may not be as strong as Men or Elves, but because of Bilbo, Frodo, Merry, Pippin, and you, Master Samwise, Sauron was defeated after a long and arduous journey, during which you showed the resilience of Hobbits. Éowyn was a woman who worked with Merry to destroy the Witch King of Angmar. There is a possibility, no matter how small, that your daughter might do some great things, despite her age."

The old man nodded, then addressed Sam: "Despite her youth, she appears to be quite intelligent, and insightful. That may be enough, but only time will tell. In any case, she will need to know what we are going to tell you. " The old man got up and walked toward the mantelpiece before he spoke again: "Sam, did you come in here in Bag End when the earthquake happened?"

Sam responded: "Yes sir, but I do not understand what that has to do with the warning you are talking about?"

The old man replied: "It is very relevant. Did you see anything strange when you entered?"

Sam hesitated, then replied: "When I entered, I thought I saw some fiery writing in the air in the fireplace, but it was only for a moment. I can't remember what it looked like exactly."

The old man sighed, then said: "It seems there may be more evidence to support my theory than I thought. To you, Sam, Ruby, and Rose, I confess that I not just an old man, I am a very experienced magician. I do not usually use my power for making the 'magic tricks' that common people use to entertain, but the more potent, useful, or dangerous spells and powers, such as those of healing, protection, finding, and occasionally, those that are necessary when I am confronted by... unsavory characters. Because of my experience with magic, I am able to sense many traces of magic and spells that have been cast in an area. When I came here, I sensed some traces of magic here. When I entered, and moved to near the fireplace, and this kitchen table, I sensed the remnants of the work of a strong magic. My feeling of it felt the strongest when I felt around the fireplace and mantelpiece. I want to try and see if I can make the writing which you saw reappear. If I am able to do that, then we can attempt to read it. If it says what I think it will say, it will give a kind of warning. I do not know if it will be the same warning that I had wanted to give you originally, but if it is, then it would save me and you some time, and I would not have to state it twice. May I have the permission to try, Sam?"

Sam did not reply at first, but stood there, contemplating. He looked over to Rose and Ruby, who gave him some concerned glances. Ruby then spoke: "Another observation you have made that you have not told me. Let me guess, you did not think that what you saw might be important. If it turns out there was writing near the hearth, it would be prudent to see what it is and to have it interpreted if we can. When dealing with power and magic, it is always better to know with what you are dealing with, and for that matter..." she paused as she looked at the old man cautiously, "...who we are dealing with."

The old man looked at ruby with a apologetic look, then looked back at Sam with a questioning look, asking for permission to do something that required Sam's permission. Sam sighed, there was now way around it, he had to make a decision, and he had to make it now. He didn't want to find out what the sense of foreboding was telling him. This could be a no-u-turn moment. He looked into the old mans eyes, their eyes met, and stared into each other, one middle-aged, the other one older than he looked, very aged, but also very wise. Sam made his decision. "Very well, my hands are tied, as my Gaffer would say, but I will trust you to do that for me. Even though you are not Gandalf, you seem kind of like him to me, and yet you are unlike him; it is kind of confusing. "

The old man gave a slight smile for a bit, but it was replaced with a frown as he concentrated on the air in front of the mantle piece, and his eyes wandered onto the fire. He squinted, then reached down his hand near the flames, near enough to get his hand very warm, but not blistering. He waved his hand and started muttering something, but what is was the Hobbits couldn't make out. as he worked his craft, the man swept his hand a little around in front of the fire, occasionally muttering to himself barely audible: "Swiping my hands just for show. Avert, why do you do this, it is completely unnecessary. It has a less corny and showoff effect than a puff of smoke I guess, but it is not needed. (not the Author's name, but current alias)" The magician worked for a half minute trying to understand the intention of the spell that had been caste here, and the complexity of the spell took a good deal of time to unravel and figure out how the spell had been cast. While he worked Ruby, Sam, and Rose watched silently, thinking back to a time when Gandalf had had a hard time figuring out the password to enter Moria. At last, the man stepped away, with a puzzled expression on his face.

"I was unable to find out who sent this, for the being that crafted the spell made 2 messages that I can detect and did not tell me his name. There is no way to tell if there are other messages that have been hidden so well that I can't detect them. The one of them that was more important was protected from being discovered and read easily than the other one. The way the spell was made was so that the message that was displayed to Sam would fade very quickly so that it would be seen by Sam, and no one else. It was meant for him alone, and I was told to tell only him what it says. The other message is, as I suspected, the warning that I was going to tell you when I arrived, but I can now see that some one else with more power than I sent this warning beforehand. I can still be useful here, but my plans have been changed because of this. It reads in the common tongue:

"Greetings, Sam Gamgee, gardener of Bag End. For a long time the Powers have looked down on the world, and you have been blessed in the realm of Middle-Earth since the defeat of Sauron. You have had some time of peace for a while and have grown quite attached to your family, including Ruby, your daughter. She has grown now in her tweens I know, and even though Hobbits are supposedly not come of age until 33, I have heard already about how much more responsible your daughter has been for her age, and of how wise she is compared to most of the Hobbit children. Your child has been such a great Hobbit, and can easily be the apple of your eye. However, even as the apple matures from the tree, so does your daughter mature from you. You have taught her well. The apple tree itself, which gave birth to the fruit, can realize that it is hard to let go of its prized apple. The same will be true for you very soon, for Ruby, like a ripe apple, is ready to leave. She has ripened into a beautiful Hobbit woman, and is very prized by all of you. However, her time has come to go, but where she is going you can't follow. For you now have other needs to attend to, such at your other children that are not quite ready to leave. She will be fine where she is going, and you will not need to fear for her safety.

"You may be wondering what she may need to be safe from, and I will tell you. In a land far away from the Shire, there is an acquaintance of an old evil, a underling of the Dark Lord Morgoth, who once ruled in a mighty fortress called Angband. Where Angband once stood, a new fortress has been built, a secret fortress that the king of Gondor has not found out about yet. Inside that fortress there lies an ancient jewel, and guarding that jewel, is the underling. Even now, he has started gathering remnants of orcs and other foul creatures to his side, building up his strength. If he keeps this up, his power will grow so strong that he will try and take over Middle-Earth. Because of this, I sent a summons for help to Ruby and someone else. A warrior of good that can come to aid us in our cause to defeat the minion of Morgoth before he can become a threat. I think that if Ruby and the warrior go, they will be the cause of the downfall of that evil, potentially once and for all. But in order to do this, they will need help, for it has gathered the remnants of the evil dragons, and brought them under its sway. To combat them, 2 Riders must make their way across Middle-Earth, and raise the alarm, for the darkness that is coming wishes to kill all mortal living things in Middle-Earth in the end. You must make haste, for the new Enemy is growing in strength fast, especially since Sauron has now been defeated.

"Sam, what I am about to ask of you may be hard for you to hear, but I must ask: will you let your daughter leave the Shire and face the danger out there in the world with 3 companions in order to destroy a danger to all of Middle-Earth, or will you forbid her to go? I could understand why you would not want her to go, but please, if she wants to go, let her. I think she is responsible enough to decide for herself if she should go. For all birds, in order to be able to fly and fend for themselves, have to leave the nest, and be on their own. All I ask is that you let your bird fly away from you on her own will. I need her there to combat this darkness, for only she has the power to defeat it, though she does not know it yet. The warrior that will come will show her how to fend for herself in the wild, and will teach her about how to survive. All I ask is that. Her companions will make sure that she will be safe, so there will be no need for you to worry. After this is over, Ruby can choose her own path, and stay with you if she wishes. I know you will make the right decision."

A silence hung over the room for a while as Sam, Ruby and Rose asked themselves a series of questions, all of which they did not know the answer for. Why would a mysterious person want Ruby? Surely Aragorn would be more qualified person to get this message since he was more experienced than Ruby in conflict and in non-conflict situations. Hobbits had already made a large contribution toward the establishment of the current somewhat peaceful atmosphere of Middle-Earth.

The old man bent down all of a sudden, and rubbed his hand on his head, moaning as he did so. Sam and Ruby worriedly glanced at the old man as he shook his head with his hands touching his head. He starred at Sam and Ruby, and as he did so, His eyes opened wider as he pointed down the hall. "I can feel it. A deep and powerful spell is being cast by someone right now. A very powerful spell. The power that is being put into it is so immense that I can't comprehend it all. This spell will have the power to change all of Middle-Earth as we know it, and the lands beyond. " After he said this there was a sound like distant thunder that rumbled through the air. The old man jumped then looked at Ruby and fell down to his knees. "Ruby, I ask that you go into your room and bring out the curiosity that you have found. I think the Warrior is near at hand. If you decide to go with him on this quest that someone wants you to go on, you will need to bring that stone with you. If you end up deciding to not go, then I guess that you deserve to know what it is. Go on, go get the ruby-red stone. I have to talk to my axe-carrying companion for a bit. "

Ruby went into the hallway and to her bedroom. She opened the door and waked over to a shelf that was about waist high, and picked up the strange stone. Just as the she picked up the stone, she heard a knock on something. She walked to the window by the front door and looked out. At first she did not see any thing, but as she got her head very close to the window, she saw something move. The old man, who had brought the axe-man out of the kitchen, looked out the window at something before he said: "He has come. The setting up of the board is going to be nearly complete. Only 2 pieces need to be placed. Whatever happens Sam, try to treat him with respect. It would not be fitting for the first meeting of a Rider and a Hobbit to be a hostile one. He would be a great ally to have in the coming years. "

Sam looked at the old man warily, but said nothing. Another knock came from the front door. Ruby, who was the closest to the door, slowly turned the handle and opened it. As she starred at whoever was at the door, her brow raised in surprise. When Sam saw her expression, he walked slowly toward the doorway without making a sound. The rain was still pouring outside at 1:00 AM. As Sam looked at the stranger, he felt a strange feeling. It was strangely familiar, but Sam could not remember where or when he had this feeling.

It was at this time that the stranger spoke. It was a low, but smooth voice that came out, with a hint of power contained in it. "I apologize for disturbing you at this hour, but I had a strange dream. A dream that showed me the entrance to a underground home. When I saw this home and recognized it as the one in my dream, I thought I should tell the owners of this lovely home about my dream. When I was standing out here, I realized that I did not have anywhere to stay for the night. So I decided that I would come here and ask if you would let me in and let me stay for the night. May I come inside. "

Sam looked at the stranger, but was unable to see its face because of the stranger's hood which caste his features in shadow. Sam asked a question that came unbidden from his lips: "Who are you?"

The stranger hesitated, before he said: "My name is..."

* * *

Author: "And that's why they call him Cliffhanger!" (from _In Between The Lions_ TV show) Please review if you want. The next chapter might prompt some people to make comments that might be considered as inflammation, but I am looking forward to writing it when I have the time. May your swords stay sharp!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters that are in this story, they belong to Christopher Paolini and J.R.R Tolkien. I now know from his website that Christopher Paolini has already planned out his 5th book, but this is just my attempt to write my own version of the events that happened after Eragon Kingslayer (I prefer Shadeslayer) left Alagaёsia.

* * *

Authors note: When we last saw Eragon, he was traveling down the Jiet River out into the wild unknown of the world beyond Alagaёsia. Eragon, Saphira, and Glaedr had already discovered that the world was round, and that Alagaёsia was only a small part of the world. You will remember if you looked at the previous chapter that I said that Eragon will be a part of this story. This is the chapter. Remember how the elves and the Urgals mentioned that they came to Alagaёsia from across the sea in the west? The claim to know the land they came from is called Alalёa, but where is that you may wonder. This story will attempt to answer that question.

I have added new material in the first chapter during this update.

In _The Silmarilian_ , the history of Aman (and the Ainur) were described in great detail, with a great amount of characters and places. The tale that will be described takes place during the Later Days, specifically after the Last Ship sailed from Middle-Earth to Valinor. Those of you who have read _The Silmarilian_ will already have one cursory understanding of what happened before this tale occurred. For the purposes of this story, the history of Arda will be at least slightly different. Even though I like the role music has in Tolkien's book as the instrument that was used to create a vision of the world, music is not going to be used in the same way in this tale. Some of the characters who are in the original book will be left out to make the writing more streamlined. Some of the key events will still happen, but potentially with different conditions and triggers.

* * *

At one time there were many of them, but now there was only three. A whole race was nearly extinguished and the rest of them had nearly been enslaved, but in the end, that had not come to pass. One member of this race was flying over a river, toward who knew where. All that she knew for sure was that it was far away from a certain someone, a someone that she would never forget. (big hint, you should be able to guess who is being referred to) It was sad enough that the green-colored-mate was not around but it was even worse for her partner, who not only shared her loss, but the loss of not being around a certain two-legs-with-pointed-ears. (another hint. If you have not figured it out correctly by now, I'm disappointed)

As she followed the bend to the right in the winding-wet-river, she kept an eye on the slowly moving vessel that was on its surface as it smoothly but lazily continued on in a roughly east direction. A full day had gone by since the parting, but even though the parting had hurt, there was nothing that could be done. After all, her partner's fate was inevitable. Part of his fortune had been set before him, and he knew that there was no way to change this part of it. And now, there he was, in the slow-moving-boat on the winding-wet-river below her, surrounded by a desolate landscape that spread out as far as she could see. Forced out of his own land by fate into a foreign place where no two-legs or four-legs had ever gone before. Now he was surrounded by 12 two-legs-with-pointy-ears, and her, as she soared through the skies, watching over him with her sapphire eyes. (big hint)

She flew for an hour more before she decided that she had nearly flown enough for one day. She twisted to the left as she made her approach toward the bone-breaking-ground in a controlled spiral. She landed down on the ground beside the river with a controlled thump and dug in her claws into the dusty soil. She twisted herself into a circle and lay down on the ground as she patiently waited for the two-legs-with-pointy-ears to catch up to her. By the time the ship arrived where she was, it was late evening. The passengers on the vessel steered it to her side of the river as she patiently watched and waited. When the vessel was secured to the bank with ropes and stakes and the anchor thrown overboard, a wooden board a few feet across was laid down to act as a ramp from the vessel to the embankment. It was at this time that one of the two-legs-with-pointed-ears walked onto the ramp and onto the river bank.

When this particular creature saw her, his face, which had had a pensive expression, turned into a face full of joy. He turned and ran toward her, with a big smile on his face. A feeling of great pleasure enveloped her, and she consciously let down her mental guard. Into her mind came and flowed the feelings of joy and happiness as they mentally embraced each other, and sent their thoughts to one another. She smiled, or at least she tried to smile at him. He ran up to her and stroked her snout as they continued to send their mutual warm feelings to each other. Her partner was now here with her, and she with him. After about 15 seconds, they switched from sending their mutual feelings for each other and instead turned their thoughts to words as they spoke to each other from mind to mind.

" _It's so good to feel you again Sapphira. Oh how I've missed you._ "

" _And I you, little one._ "

" _Sapphira!_ ", he responded back in mock disdain. " _Does it ever occur to you that this habit of calling me 'little one' is getting a little old? How long are you going to keep this up?_ "

She responded back humorously: " _As long as I am bigger than you Eragon, which as far as I can see is going to be for forever._ "

Eragon rolled around his eyes as he came up with a reply: " _Oh come on Sapphira, both you and I know that was not always the case. Both you and I know there was a time when you were the little one and I was not._ _And during that time, did I ever refer to you as 'little-one?'_ "

Sapphira's mental voice rumbled a little as her smugness lessened a bit. " _No, but that doesn't mean that you didn't see me as one while I was a hatch-ling._ " Eragon sighed, his point had been returned onto him by Sapphira. " _We can both agree that both of us were little ones at some point Eragon, but the fact simply is that right now I am now taller than you, and am still growing, while you have stopped growing, and will remain that way for the rest of our lives._ _It makes little sense to get upset by this certainty._ We are who we are." Eragon sighed, then spoke to himself his true name, and reminded himself of who he was. After that, he felt calm and content again with who he was, and he felt less bothered by the nickname Sapphira had given him.

After this, Eragon opened up his mind a little and felt around them the little life-forms that were in the air around him, as well as the minds of Glaedr, Blödhgarm, the other Eldunarí and the other 12 elves that were around him. Most of the Eldunarí were wrapped up in their own thoughts and were not as observant or aware of their surroundings, but those that were, except for Glaedr, had not said anything to Eragon or Saphira that day. The terrain had not changed in any significant way since the separation from Aria yesterday. There had been not very much new information for the Eldunarí to try to retain and remember. The only notable thing they had so far was that the Jiet River had still not ended. If someone was going to redraw a map of whatever part of the world they were in, they had traveled at least 20 miles out than anyone else had been before. Even if Eragon couldn't find a place to set up the Riders east of Alagaёsia, he would have at least explored and discovered some lands that no one else had discovered. Perhaps if he went far enough, it could merit the making of a new map that would include Alagaёsia and the lands beyond it.

After taking mental inventory of his companions, Eragon set himself to work on setting up his tent. It took him about 15 minutes to set up his tent and to move his battle-armor, cot, table, lantern, writing paper, quill and ink, and other things into the tent. After he set his tent up and lit his lantern, he opened Domr Aber Wyrda and practiced reading and writing for a good hour and a half. After that, Eragon practiced reciting words from the Ancient Language. Glaedr occasionally corrected Eragon during his exercises, but other than that, he was undisturbed in his studies. After he was done studying for the night, Eragon went outside and talked to Blödhgarm for a short while. As usual, the evasive speech of the elves still made Eragon a little bit awkward inside. He still had difficulty trying to figure out which meaning their words were supposed to imply, but he felt that he was making more headway as time went on.

After talking with Blödhgarm, Eragon went out and practiced sword-fighting with 2 elves. Sometimes Eragon would team up with one elf against the other elf, but at other times the 2 elves would team up on him. They finished up their sword fights with a free-for-all. The free-for-all was a challenge for Eragon because of the ever-changing alliances that occurred. Sometimes he was defending against 2 elves at a time, at other times he would try to attack one elf just for the other elf to intervene by attacking Eragon. Eventually though, Eragon was able to disarm one of his opponents by twirling Brisingr to the right with a flick of his right wrist, and following up by slapping Brisingr's flat into the opposing elf's wrist. The pain the elf felt from the attack created an opening for Eragon to jump up in the air and bring Brisinger down onto the elf's sword. When Brisingr slammed down onto the elf's blade, the elf's grip, which had loosened a bit because of Eragon's last attack, failed altogether. The sword fell out of the elf's grasp, and as the elf reached down toward his sword, Eragon brought Brisingr's tip and stopped it just short of the elf's neck. The elf stopped reaching for his sword. The other elf stopped his swing as Eragon held his sword stable. Eragon then voiced a thought: "I think that we should call this bout finished. What is your use-name?"

The elf actually smirked, then said: "Just call me Unknown or Anonymous. After all, what importance is my name in comparison to the names of Eragon Kingkiller, Saphira Brightscales, or even, Aria's." Eragon was taken back by the attitude of the elf. It almost sounded like this elf was mocking him. "If I fell in battle, would the whole of Alagaёsia mourn over me? Of course not. I am just a lowly elf that was assigned the duty to protect you and Sapphira." Eragon's thoughts raced, he thought that there was something wrong here. Saphira, who had been resting comfortably, listened through her connection with Eragon, her unease sensed by everyone. The elf continued speaking: "I know I have been beaten in this sword fight Shurt'ugal, but you should not get comfortable beating me. I will show you that I am still a great swords-elf. I will make it my goal to beat you one day. And on that day, all of Alagaёsia will know that you are not the sword-man they all thought you to be. " With that said, the elf stood up, sheathed his sword, and stormed off angrily. Eragon stood there, his mind numb from the shock that had come over him because of the elf's words.

It was Saphira who got Eragon out of his shock by growling as she mentally spoke to Eragon: _Looks like after all these months of you not getting into trouble, trouble has already found you. Looks like you will have to be watching your back when I am not around; or else that pointy-eared upstart might try to ambush you. Even though the hostility has come from an elf, a elf who you may have trusted, it is not be a wise idea to let your guard down._


End file.
